DB35 vs. everything else?

DB35 drives are regular drives that tested quieter. You can choose Maxtor, Seagate,Hitachi or Western Digital all will work. You can use Acoustic Management software to further silence the drive.
http://www.majorgeeks.com/IBM_-_Hitachi_Feature_Tool_d3388.html
I believe this works. I have tested it on Western Digital, Hitachi, andSamsung drives. It worked on them.

 

I like Seagate DB35 series drives but they are still overpriced.

Any PATA drives will work on Tivo S2.
Any SATA drives will work on Tivo S3 and TivoHD.

WD, Samsung, Hitachi have AAM feature which will quiet down seek noise and runs slightly cooler so try those.

 

I don't believe the acoustic level of the drive is what differentiates it from standard Seagate drives. I don't know the exact parameters they test the drives for but the DB35's are regular Seagate drives that test slightly better in certain areas. They just get a different label and a higher price tag slapped on them.

 

The Seagate DB35's are specified for low-noise, relatively cooler operation, and lower-power environments. For example, they rate at a 2.0amp startup current draw and are listed at 16 seconds Power-On Ready time, because at bootup you don't want to overtax the smaller PSU typically found in a DVR type device. There also seems to be some change to the interrupt logic, where the drive doesn't wait as long to continue if it somehow fails to get a response from the CPU, for video streaming writes. And some on-board DRM features which aren't used by the Tivo.

In practical terms, it means the DB35's are slower to spin up and operate at a slightly slower speed than the desktop PC counterparts. Which is just fine for a DVR. In a consumer device, typically you want reliability and longevity, not a performance hotrod.

[OTOH, you can get a bare 500GB drive in the $99 range these days and do the work yourself. As rbtravis indicated, you can use Hitachi Feature Tool to force a slower, quieter mode (Accoustic Management) on Western Digital, Hitachi, Samsung and some Maxtor drives.]

If you're getting married, get used to the term WAF: Wife Acceptance Factor. I'd probably recommend the DB35 for low sound levels and tend not to fail as much as some of the cheapo drives. Too much Tivo noise and she'll get pissed at you. If you go with a cheapo drive and it dies, losing all her Tivo recordings, she'll be pissed at you.

 

I agree with Narf54321 by all means Keep the Wife Happy. Let her know you are buying the quieter drive for her because you don't want to disturb her beauty sleep with loud drive noise.

 

After purchasing two regular drives, I wish I had picked these up instead...

http://www.thenerds.net/SEAGATE_Seagate_DB35_Series_72003_Hard_Drive.ST3500830ACE.html

$160 w/shipping